TGIF: Strange Blanket Octopus
This video of a swimming Tremoctopus or “blanket octopus” was shot in the Gulf of Mexico in 180 feet of water at Eugene Island South Addition Block 330 in October, 2008. The location is 100 miles from the Flower Garden Banks, close to Sweet Bank, on the outer continental shelf west of Mississippi Canyon. The video appears to be from an industrial ROV performing inspections on an oil rig.
The footage is real, but the species is unknown. The genus is characterized by extreme sexual dimorphism. Males are ~100 times smaller than females. A similar animal washed up on the beach near Miami, FL last Friday, apparently, and another in 1964, according to NOAA Fisheries Biologist Heather Balchowsky. Special thanks to James Wiseman for the information and Emma Hickerson, FGBNMS for the tip and the link.
Date Posted: March 6, 2009 at 7:00 AM
March 6, 2009 at 7:51 AMChristopher Taylor
And it’s just in time for Mardi Gras tomorrow…
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March 6, 2009 at 8:48 AMJives
Its … so … beautiful
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March 6, 2009 at 9:37 AMSouthern Fried Scientist
wow
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March 6, 2009 at 10:33 AMKatie
It is fabulous…
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March 6, 2009 at 11:45 AMclark
Amazing critter. The sea still holds so many surprises. My vote for a name is hobotnica slobodna, which is Croat for wild octopus.
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March 6, 2009 at 1:13 PMJulia
Is this lovely creature leaving behind part of its body at 1:40? What’s going on there?
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March 6, 2009 at 5:48 PMJJ
@6 According to the link (http://www.tolweb.org/tremoctopus)
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March 6, 2009 at 5:50 PMjj
You Tube link to a different Tremoctopus show us this defense mech (linked from the site above)
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March 6, 2009 at 6:13 PMPeter Etnoyer
Anyone else notice the eye shapes in the ‘blanket’ resembling the design in peacock feathers? Or am I just trippin’?
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March 6, 2009 at 7:15 PMEric
Very, very cool. At first glance it strikes me that this is very similar to looking at Brad Seibel’s brooding squid (Gonatus onyx) video. Are the males similarly equipped even though they are so much smaller?
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March 6, 2009 at 7:15 PMChristopher Taylor
No, I saw that too.
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March 6, 2009 at 7:47 PMIrradiatus
Alright. That’s it.
You guys have got to stop showing me so many things that were previously non-existent in my world. My world is big enough already. I’m not sure I can handle any more.
What was up with the breaking of tissue there toward the end. Did it spontaneously release a piece of itself like a lizards tail in the hopes the camera would focus on the bit of cephalosnack?
Pretty amazing!
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March 6, 2009 at 8:24 PMMatt H.
That was too freaking awesome, it made my friday.
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March 6, 2009 at 9:37 PMechoegami
@ Peter, I was reminded of peacock feathers, too.
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March 6, 2009 at 11:23 PMPeter
Various people have been asking… how big is it? Photographer Cassandra Cox tells me the female she photographer for ToL (linked) was ~1.5 – 2 m long.
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March 7, 2009 at 12:18 PMLiza
Whoa… That was so beautiful!
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March 7, 2009 at 2:32 PMDarr Sandberg
They don’t look anything like Michael Jackson’s son. They need a better name – blanket octopus is too practical and boring for something so beautiful. If sea slugs can be spanish dancers, octopi can be peacocks, or salome’.
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March 9, 2009 at 8:39 AMLou FCD
Wow, just beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
“…not only stranger than we imagine…”
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March 10, 2009 at 12:19 AMelizabeth
that’s not actually a blanket octopus. it is in fact the amiable alien creature from the great movie–The Abyss. check it out. you’ll see. ha
(that is gorgeous footage btw. nice music too. i’d like to know the official name for this alien creature)
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March 12, 2009 at 9:58 PMTerry Cloth
Given the dimorphism, I sure as hell hope that was a female!
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March 14, 2009 at 2:01 PMEric
Terry – Tremoctopodidae males are listed as being ~15mm so yeah this would be the 1-2m long female. I actually wish it was the male with the peacock eye spots in the blankets (no you’re not tripping Peter, or more precisely your seeing eyespots is not a factor of tripping). That would mean the females would be near to 100m!!! Wahooo! That would make my day!
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December 18, 2009 at 8:19 AMBlanket Throws
Wow, that truly is a marvelous, gracious creature. I wonder what benefits its sexual dimorphism brings.
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